


keep the door open for me

by evanescent



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, also since it's me there's a lot of batfam, mostly fluffy and confusing feelings ahead bc i'm soft for these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-12 07:58:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10486008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evanescent/pseuds/evanescent
Summary: A shadow towers over him and Kyle squints as he hears a distorted, amused voice say, “I gotta admit, green trunks were okay, but I think white suits you in more ways than one, Rayner.”...A chance meeting after years leads Kyle to strike up a relationship he'd have never expected to have with Jason Todd. And, to his own surprise, he's more than just a little willing to keep it.





	1. part i.

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i'm very glad that jaykyle tag here on ao3 has been kinda active in those recent months. dare i say, my impact? (okay, just kidding)
> 
> this is set in a pre-flashpoint continuity with some stuff taken from new 52 (e.g., the outlaws, kyle becoming a white lantern) (though, i feel like i need to state two things: kyle/carol have never been a thing and while jason's uniform is n52 based, roy is definitely not wearing a dumb trucker hat. or sunglasses for that matter)
> 
> since this fic got longer than initially planned, i decided to split it; part two should be up later this week :3
> 
> EDIT: my good friend alma did some [lovely art for a certain scene](https://twitter.com/blackflashfam/status/1019003834486714372) in this chapter, go check out their art & support!

Kyle hasn’t been back on Earth for a while and he misses it. Space is engrossing, of course, with how often there’s something that needs to be taken care of immediately before it escalates into an intergalactic conflict, but some time off sounds good. He’d go as far as to say he deserves it.

And considering it now, as he blocks an angry blow with a spiked mace to his torso, Kyle thinks he needs his vacation to start right at this very moment.

What he told Carol before she left to deal with another crisis was, “I will handle this,” and that’s how he ended up fighting an angry army on a planet which is far away from civilization even by his standards. A voice that sounds suspiciously like Guy’s keeps nagging him at the back of his mind, repeating, _You always get into that kind of situations_.

The worst thing, he can’t even argue with that.

All things considered, Kyle thinks he’s been handling himself pretty well up until now. Then again, there’s a limit of things he can have under control and apparently an upcoming decapitation is not one of them. Feeling exhausted, Kyle admits that his only coherent thought at that moment is, _I really wanted to eat some enchiladas just one more time_.

But then there’s a flash of neon violet and his would-be killer goes down. Kyle whips around and though technically he knows it can’t be Carol or any other Star Sapphire, even if only for the fact the violet beam was different, he’s still surprised when an arrow flies past his head and explodes further down the path, making the soldiers scramble and yell.

A shadow towers over him and Kyle squints as he hears a distorted, amused voice say, “I gotta admit, green trunks were okay, but I think white suits you in more ways than one, Rayner.”

It takes him a moment, but Kyle finally realizes that it’s Starfire and Arsenal (or is it Red Arrow again? – he can’t quite keep track of Roy’s codenames) wreaking havoc among hostile forces as the Red Hood stands in front him and asks, in a tone that definitely suggests he’s smirking under the helmet, “Need a hand getting up, Lantern?”

Kyle has a feeling he’s not going to live this one down.

…

“It’s a nice ship,” Kyle says much later, after things are said and done, stepping into a control room after taking a hot, blessed shower aboard.

Koriand’r, floating slightly above one of the chairs as she’s eating something, smiles at him. “Thank you, I’m glad someone appreciates it,” she answers, casting a sidelong glance at Roy, who proceeds to jokingly shove at her.

“But we do,” he protests, crossing his arms over his chest. He seems to have changed out of his uniform only halfway and the effect is ridiculous. “It’s still in one piece. Give us some credit, Kory.”

“I will, once you stop trying to give it unnecessary boosts,” she replies dryly and looks over Kyle’s shoulder. “Stop frowning and finally come in, Jason.”

Kyle startles, starts to turn around, but then there’s an angry shuffle of heavy boots on the floor and Jason passes him by, a scowl on his face. As he takes a seat near the control console, Kyle notices he’s still in his Red Hood getup, sans the helmet, or a domino mask, for that matter.

“Are you annoyed because you didn’t get to shoot more aliens?” Roy asks, raising an eyebrow. “We thought you’d enjoy playing the rescuer part, considering…”

“Shut it, Harper,” Jason interrupts him decidedly, but with not much bite. His fingers run over the keys and he pulls up a screen with a map as Kyle concludes, coming closer. “Why the fuck are we headed back to Earth?” he asks, incredulous. “We left not even two weeks ago.”

“Yeah, but from what Kyle mentioned in passing, we figured he could use some time home,” Roy says.

“He can fly himself back there just fine,” Jason grumbles under his breath, glaring up at him.

“Thanks guys, that’s really nice of you,” Kyle answers, voice light as he pointedly ignores Jason. If he wants to be difficult, fine, Kyle isn’t going to indulge him – though the urge to snap back is strong. Then again, when it isn’t around Jason Todd. “I wouldn’t like to impose or make you change your plans, though,” he adds, sitting down in one of the chairs.

“Don’t worry.” Roy waves a hand dismissively. “We’re just flying around now, the only reason we were near that planet was because Kory wanted to check it out for Tamaraneans, but I guess that ship has sunken,” he states, looking back to her.

She nods. “That wasn’t a good sector,” she says simply, a little disappointed. She looks at Jason then, adding, “Besides, it’s better to be around in case of an emergency.”

“I told you, unless the next call comes from Oracle, I’m not even gonna consider moving my ass anywhere,” Jason answers, having pulled up another screen and working on something. Kyle hopes he’s not going to break anything, with how unnecessarily hard he’s tapping the keys, but Koriand’r just raises her eyebrows. “Fricking Batman could ask us for help and I’d just laugh and flip him off.”

“You’re still mad about that time we got a distress signal from Dick and it turned out he was out of cereal, aren’t you,” she states. Roy snorts when Jason just straight up refuses to answer.

“If Oracle calls, you _do_ come, even if only because it’s _Oracle_ ,” Roy counters. “Besides, if it was Batgirl or Black Bat, I know you’d come, too.”

“I resent that statement,” Jason replies without missing a beat. “They both can handle themselves just fine and I highly doubt they’d call us if they couldn’t.”

“Oh, ye of little faith,” Roy mutters with a smirk, sliding into a chair near Kyle’s as he massages his shoulder. It’s the one with his bionic arm, Kyle can’t help but notice. As if following his train of thought, Roy shrugs and says quietly, “It aches sometimes.”

Kyle doesn’t really have a good answer to that. He still finds this particular situation bizarre; he knew he was somewhat out of loop with superhero community on Earth as of late, but he really had no idea that Starfire, Arsenal and Red Hood, out of all people, teamed up, and it must have been a thing for some time now. As far as Kyle was aware, both Koriand’r and Roy always stuck with Nightwing and kept to hero side of line, rather than anti-hero. (Although, he also knows that after Lian’s death, Roy strayed off – but it’s been a few years and Kyle doesn’t think it’s something he should bring up.)

Jason, however, well. From what Kyle glimpsed of his body armour earlier, there’s a red symbol on his chest that Kyle is just now realizing is probably bat-shaped, but that doesn’t give him much. In all honesty, he has no idea what Jason’s been up to lately and it’s not like he actually knows him all that well – their trip through multiverse, as fun and life-threatening it had been, doesn’t really seem like a fair base to judge him upon. Many things went down back then.

He’s startled out of his thoughts when Jason suddenly gets up and stretches, an action Kyle involuntarily follows with his eyes. Jason smirks at him.

“You look like you’re about to fall asleep, Rayner. Tired much?” he teases.

If there is one thing, however, that Kyle concluded about Jason back in time and still stands by, it’s that he’s an asshole with a very punchable face.

Just as he’s about to retort – because screw being a responsible adult, he’s on a vacation – Jason suddenly drops something into his lap. Kyle picks it up and frowns.

“And this is…?” he asks suspiciously, inspecting from up close something that looks like a magnetic card.

“Key to your guest room or whatever,” Jason replies. “I changed the parameters because for some reason it was set to freezing and air conditioning was constantly on. No need to thank me. Don’t lock yourself in or out on accident because I definitely won’t come to your rescue this time,” he finishes with a flourish before walking out of the room.

“This boy,” Kory mouths to Roy, shaking her head.

Kyle is left a little stunned because, as off-putting and standoffish Jason’s demeanor just now was, he did something genuinely _nice_ for him. And – Kyle hates himself for forming the thought, but the damage is done – he’s still good-looking, maybe even more than before. And that may prove to be a problem because, as much as he often felt the urge to punch Jason, he kind of wanted to kiss him sometimes, too.

And now, sitting in a spaceship with Starfire and Arsenal talking over his head as he grips the key in his hand, Kyle tells himself that this is definitely _not_ a good time to revisit these ideas.

…

Four days, thirty sectors, an unplanned not-quite-crashing on a planet inhabited by big dinosaur-like creatures spitting furiously orange toxic venom, two near-death experiences and a very shirtless Jason passed out on his shoulder later, Kyle really regrets taking up this trip with the Outlaws. He didn’t sign up for – whatever this is.

(He thinks Roy and Koriand’r know something is up and have way too much fun on his expense. Kyle is never trusting any of his rescuers again.)

…

Of course, just as they make it back to Earth, they receive a call from Oracle, the kind of “all hands on deck” one, as Gotham City is plunged into chaos by a massive Blackgate breakout. For all his swearing and complaining, Jason sprints into action with no time wasted, Roy and Koriand’r at his heels. Kyle considers it for a moment, pros and cons of showing up unannounced in Batman’s city, but because it’s apparently his life at this very moment, he descends to the dark and dirty streets as well.

Gotham is not very high on the list of places he wanted to visit back on Earth, not even remotely close to that, but he’s nothing if not flexible.

To their credit, the vigilantes he passes by don’t even question his presence here or act surprised – although Red Robin almost crashes into a phone pole mid-swing when Kyle flies by, a fact he’s definitely going to laugh at Tim about later. Batgirl even shouts after him that he’s like “a White Knight people of Gotham deserve” and he could “give B a run for his money” as she viciously uppercuts a guy almost twice her size. It’s kind of a nice compliment, he supposes, but he doesn’t actually know her and he’s definitely not going to stand up and challenge Batman for her.

It takes them a while to contain the chaos and bring in the fugitives; by the time they’re done, Kyle examines himself on some rooftop to find lots of dust in his hair and a smudge of car oil on his glove – how it got there, he’s not quite sure.

There’s a sound of a rooftop door swinging open and he hears, “All in one piece?”

Kyle looks over his shoulder to see Jason take off the helmet. The first thing he asks is, “Did you really take the stairs up here?”

Jason scowls. “No, I just dropped from the sky,” he says; to his credit, he doesn’t even sound winded. Still, Kyle stares and he sighs, relenting. “My grappling gun got jammed. High-class Bat equipement my ass.”

“Hmm,” Kyle mutters and shrugs, leaning against the wall. “I’m fine. Hasn’t dealt with an actual prison breakout in a while, forgot how hard it is to clean up.”

“Ain’t that true.” Jason pats a pocket of his jacket, a move suggesting he wants to smoke, but in the end, he ends up leaning against the wall next to Kyle with arms crossed over his chest. Kyle watches him from the corner of his eye and that’s why he doesn’t miss a wince at the movement.

“Are _you_ okay?” he asks then.

“Yeah, some asshole surprised me with a crowbar to the ribs,” Jason replies, sounding surprisingly calm.

“I guess you showed him why it’s a bad idea?” Kyle risks asking in a similar manner.

At that, Jason smirks. “Was about to, but Robin beat me to it. Kid is quite proficient with a crowbar, mind you.”

 _This family_ , Kyle thinks, but knows better than to say it out loud.

“Shouldn’t you get those ribs checked out, though? Or like, get down there and help with damage control?” He points with his chin to the streets below them.

“Nah, too many Bat brats at once still give me a headache.” Jason glances at him. “Besides, I thought it’d be pretty rude of me to leave you on your own here.”

Kyle rolls his eyes. “Yeah, thanks, but I think I could handle myself, even in Gotham.”

“I know you can. That’s not what I meant.”

Now, Kyle turns to actually regard him. This past week was a pretty strange and confusing experience, and he would lie if he said he didn’t mean Jason by that. In many ways, he’s still like the guy Kyle took an immense amount of pleasure in knocking on his ass and bickering bordering on arguing, but there’s more to that. Kyle was surprised to learn that he can be a pretty good storyteller during makeshift dinners just as well as a quiet, almost soothing presence in the far and dark parts of the outer space – and then, there are also moments like this, when Kyle has no clue what to make of Jason.

The atmosphere between them changes and there’s no mistaking it as Jason also turns to him and moves in closer. Kyle knows his eyes widen, but other than that, he’s very still, barely daring to breathe. Jason’s expression is unreadable like usually, but there’s intent behind his deliberately slow movements; intent and something else, something that tells Kyle that this is probably a bad idea and it’ll end up backfiring spectacularly in his face sooner than later.

And yet, as Jason pauses, his face still a few inches away from Kyle’s – he’s giving him a chance to back out, he realizes – this same, unspecified feeling is what prompts Kyle to close the remaining distance.

The kiss is… not what Kyle expected, actually. Jason’s lips are chapped and dry, just like he thought they’d be, but he kisses gently, with a purpose. Kyle is amazed and a little embarrassed at how easily he melts into it, sliding a hand into Jason’s hair; considering it’s _them_ , he’d have expected to clash even during a kiss. Then, as if this wasn’t enough, Jason cups his cheek, putting his gloved thumb under Kyle’s chin to tilt his head and deepen the kiss. And Kyle groans and sue him, maybe he hasn’t kissed anyone in a long time, but this right here, it feels… _good_.

Jason sucks in a breath and breaks the kiss, leaning away a little to look at Kyle. His teal eyes are bright.

“You…” he breathes out, but doesn’t elaborate, and Kyle feels _very_ smug about rendering Jason Todd speechless. It doesn’t happen every day.

Before he can say or do anything else, though, Jason suddenly straightens up and looks past Kyle’s head. He mumbles, “Son of a–” and takes a few steps away, picking up his helmet with a frown.

“What –” Kyle starts to say, but then he hears it, rustling of a cape. And, because Kyle can’t have nice things in life, there’s goddamn _Batman_ on the rooftop with them.

Way to ruin a moment.

“Hood,” the man says pointedly, probably glaring at the discarded helmet in Jason’s hands, because _secret identities_ and stuff.

“B,” Jason replies stiffly, his jaw clenched just a little too hard.

Kyle can feel Batman’s gaze flicker to him for a moment, but the man doesn’t address him; that’s good because Kyle doesn’t think he could bring himself to look him in the face right now. He knows himself; it wouldn’t take the World’s Greatest Detective to figure out what they’ve been up to just moments before from his face alone.

“All escaped prisoners are accounted for, except for two, but Gordon’s men are on their trail as we speak. Five civilians are dead and nineteen are in Gotham General.” Batman pauses for a moment and adds, sounding less official, “The woman you saved in Old Town only has a mild concussion and some bruises and scratches. She agreed to talk to the psychologist.”

“That’s good,” Jason says, his reply still curt, but some of the tension in his shoulders dissipates.

Batman continues, “Several prisoners are in… less than decent shape –”

“Don’t look at me like that,” Jason interrupts, hackles rising again. “I kept shots to kneecaps and shoulders just like you always damn tell me to. Not my fault if they lost too much blood by trying to get back up.”

“Actually, I was referring to the man you and Robin apprehended near Crime Alley,” Batman replies, sounding a little exasperated.

Jason blinks and snorts. “Oh, that one was all the brat. But don’t be too hard on him for it.”

“Hng.” The cape rustles again as Batman comes a step closer. Jason doesn’t back away, continuing to stand his ground. And then, in a voice that catches Kyle off-guard, Batman asks, “Are you alright?”

Jason shrugs one shoulder. “Nothing a pack of ice and a couple of painkillers won’t fix.” He looks Batman in the face and comments, “You, on the other hand, look like crap in need of three days of sleep, at the very least.”

Batman barks a _laugh_ at that, if Kyle’s ears are not deceiving him. “A fair assumption,” he says. And, after a beat, “Thank you and the Outlaws for responding to the call, Jason. I know we haven’t parted on… the best note when you left recently.”

Suddenly, Kyle understands Batman’s strange behavior – he’s simply being _awkward_ , trying to find a middle ground in talking with Jason that won’t end up in an argument. That’s what hits him the most; that Bruce is _trying_ , making effort, and Kyle feels bad for unintentionally intruding on this conversation and just waiting for him to leave, so he and Jason can get back to other things.

(He also thinks about his mother and wills away the tears before they can come.)

“You don’t know–” Jason starts, sounding ready to go off, but his eyes flicker to Kyle and he bites the inside of his cheek. He settles on, “Yeah, okay, B. We’ll talk about that thing another time.”

“Alright.” Batman nods and then turns to him. “Kyle.”

This time, Kyle faces Batman, feeling eerily a lot like he had in his early days as a Lantern. “Uh, hello,” he says, cringing inwardly; he even sounds like a complete greenhorn.

Seemingly unphased, Batman continues, “Thank you for your assistance as well. I’m not sure how you ended up… tagging along, but your help is appreciated.” After a moment, he adds, “Also, I had no chance to congratulate you on becoming a White Lantern. I believe the ring is in good hands.”

The only alternative to openly gaping is stuttering out, “Thank you?” which is not much better, but Kyle thinks he’s justified. He hopes it’s only the exhaustion that makes Batman so forthcoming because he honestly doesn’t know if he could get used to it in a long shot.

Batman nods at them one last time and approaches the edge of the rooftop. Before firing his grappling hook, however, he turns his head and says, “Alfred’s birthday is next week.”

Jason sighs, but it sounds fond more than anything. “I know, I know, I read the groupchat sometimes.” There’s an expectant pause and he adds, “I’ll be there. Most likely.”

“Okay,” Batman says and like that, he’s gone again.

Jason makes a face and runs a hand through his hair. “Could’ve gone worse,” he sums up thoughtfully.

Kyle is still in shock, stuck on being _congratulated_ by Batman. “Did he– I mean, he really just did–?” he asks, turning around, but then there’s a clatter of the helmet falling down and Jason is next to him, pushing him against the wall.

“Now, I believe we were getting somewhere before being rudely interrupted,” he says with a grin. And a part of Kyle – a rational part – wants to protest, considering who was with them mere seconds ago because that’s just like _playing_ to get caught, but another part of him doesn’t really care.

“That we were,” he agrees and they kiss again, this time less gently, with more heat. Kyle knows Jason’s probably still strung-up, working through the tension from the encounter with Bruce, but he doesn’t really mind; this feels a little more like what he imagined, and it’s enough to shut down any unwanted thoughts, at least for now.

…

A few days later, as they’re eating breakfast outside of a cafe in Paris – Kyle really needed that vacation, alright – Jason announces out of the blue, “You know, I had a crush on you back during our nanoverse trip.”

Kyle chokes on the croissant he’s eating. Jason only glances at him above the rims of his sunglasses with a smirk.

Glaring back after taking a sip of coffee, Kyle says, “Stop joking around if you don’t want me accidentally dead.” Jason frowns, staring at him, and Kyle pauses. “Wait. You weren’t joking?”

Jason shakes his head and replies dryly, “I thought it was pretty obvious, actually.”

“But…” Well, doesn’t _that_ put some things into perspective. Kyle is still confused, though. “I thought you were being an ass towards me because you had a crush on Donna and we had history, and all.”

Jason sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “To be fair, who doesn’t have at least a little of a crush on Donna?” Kyle can’t really argue with this one. “And I had a huge crush on her back when I was still running around in scaly pants. Besides, she’s been one of the very few people who didn’t condemn me for coming back different.” He sounds a little bitter, but not angry.

“You two still in touch?” he asks, curious despite himself.

“Sometimes.” Jason shrugs and chuckles. “The last time I saw her, she helped the Outlaws get rid of a cursed artefact stuck to Roy’s quiver. It was pretty funny, I guess.”

Kyle hums and clears his throat, “So… about you having a crush on me… care to elaborate on that?” he asks casually.

Jason grins and leans closer in. “Wouldn’t you _like_ to know, Rayner,” he stage-whispers into Kyle’s ear, “especially now, when you’ve got the real thing going on?”

And Kyle thinks, _To hell with it_ , and kisses Jason, because well, since this is a _real thing_ , he totally can, right?

Apparently not having expected that, Jason makes a surprised noise in the back of his throat and backpedals abruptly, knocking the table and spilling the tea all over himself.

“You little–” he hisses, grabbing a handful of napkins to wipe himself with, and he’s _so_ red in the face. Kyle knows people are staring at them, but he can’t stop laughing, even as Jason continues to chew him out, “You can’t just do that in public without a warning, I fucking swear-”

“So, making out on Gotham rooftops where any vigilante can see us is fine,” he says, when he manages to catch a breath, “but giving you an innocent kiss in a cafe is too much? Wow, I really can’t believe I used to think you were _intimidating_.”

“Shut the hell up,” Jason grumbles, unamused, “and bring me more napkins.”

…

Vacation with Jason involves stopping some more or less petty crimes – and even toppling a corrupt local government one time – and lots of lazing around and kissing, which Kyle isn’t opposed to at all. But all fun times must come to an end eventually; Kyle has his Lantern duties to get back to and the Outlaws are about to embrace on another trip. It ends where it began, in Gotham, as Jason complains, getting ready for Alfred’s birthday party.

“Alfred himself would never force me to dress up,” he mutters, smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt in front of a mirror in the hallway of his apartment. Kyle is surprised he owns a mirror, actually, almost as surprised as he was when Jason didn’t just bring him to one of his many safe houses, but his actual, lived-in apartment.

“Isn’t he your butler? Doesn’t he kind of… does these things, actually?” Kyle inquires, leaning against the backrest of a couch.

“Yeah, but that was when I was a teenager, and a legal entity, and all that. Technically, they _can’t_ make me do anything now.”

“Sure,” Kyle agrees, not bothering to hide a grin as he glances to the table where, neatly packed, there’s a cake Jason baked himself, his contribution to the party. Kyle was pleasantly caught off-guard when he learnt Jason can cook; actually, he made Kyle probably the best enchiladas he’s ever had, only later admitting to using a recipe he remembered from his childhood.

“Not a word,” Jason warns, giving his hair one last ruffle before turning around. “Okay, how do I look?”

He isn’t dressed up, per se; simply wearing jeans without knife holes and oil stains on them, and a long-sleeved white shirt which probably was crisp once upon a time. As far as Kyle’s aware, he’s also going to wear his less dirty biker boots and a leather jacket – which is not far off from how Jason usually dresses. And yet, Kyle lets himself stare a little.

“You clean up nice,” he says eventually.

Jason cocks an eyebrow. “Hm, haven’t heard this in a long time.” He glances to the window and sighs. “I need to get going soon. I shouldn’t be late, considering I’ve got the cake, and all.”

And that’s the moment Kyle… well, _dreads_ isn’t the right word for it, but he’s feeling vaguely disappointed and unsure where they stand with each other. These recent weeks have been nice, especially since their unplanned kiss on the rooftop and everything that followed. Kyle isn’t stupid; he knows Jason enjoyed that time as well, but it may be just that, with no intention of following up in any way.

“Yeah, well. I guess I’ll be leaving soon, too,” he says awkwardly, after a beat of silence.

Jason looks at him for a long moment before walking over to grab a notebook and a pen from the drawer. He scribbles something down and, once he’s done, rips the page out, giving it to Kyle.

“This is how to find and contact the ship, although I’m not sure if we’ll be going into space any soon,” he explains. Then, he points to the bottom of the page and adds, almost tentatively, “That’s a number for a phone I’m least likely to get rid of. If you wanted to, um, hang out again. Or something.”

“‘Hang out or something’? Really, Jason?” Kyle laughs, even though he clutches the piece of paper in his hand tightly.

Jason is looking everywhere but at him, expression pinched, “I have no idea what the hell I’m doing, okay?” he mumbles and Kyle knows how much this confession costs him. His face softens.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I haven’t done this in a while,” he says, but actually, Kyle feels like none of his past relationships have prepared him for this… thing he apparently has going on with Jason Todd now. He’s kind of going in blind, but he doesn’t want to turn back. “It might be some time before I get around to calling, though. Because, you know. Phones and outer space don’t really mix.”

Rolling his eyes, Jason tells him, “You’re a weird one,” but it sounds quite fond, and kisses him. Kyle relaxes almost instantly, trying not to think about how long it will probably be before he gets to do that again, instead choosing to focus on the softness of Jason’s hair or how good it feels to trace the line of his sharp jaw.

And then, there’s a soft thud on the floor.

They jump away from each other and Kyle doesn’t know what he expected, but a short girl with watchful eyes, dressed all in dark colors wasn’t that.

“Cass!” Jason hisses and okay, it figures she’s one of the Bats, Kyle hasn’t even heard her sneak in. “Did you just come through my window in civilian clothes _again_?”

She shrugs. “Better than the stairs,” she says, her voice quiet and level. “Came for you. To make sure you don’t… change your mind at the last second.”

“I’m positively thrilled by how much you all trust and believe in me,” Jason scoffs. “I made the cake, did you really think I would bail out?”

She shrugs again and eyes the box with interest, coming closer. Then she turns her gaze on Kyle and he tries not to twitch; it feels like she can read straight through him.

“You’re a White Lantern,” she says then. “Helped us last week.”

“Um, yeah, that’d be me, I guess,” he agrees and _oh_ , how is he realizing _just now_ that this is Black Bat, one of the best martial artist in the world and probably the most likely person to take over as Batman, he has no idea.

Jason sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Kyle, this is Cass, my sister on a good day.” She punches him in the side and he makes a face. “Anyway, Cass, this is Kyle, he’s…” Jason trails off and Kyle can’t really blame him.

To his surprise, Cass grins. “Nice to meet you,” she says before turning back to Jason and patting him on the cheek. “It’s okay, little brother. Your _secret friend_ is safe with me.”

Jason makes a frustrated sound. “Could you not call him that? It sounds creepy.”

“I will get going,” Kyle announces, before something even more embarrassing happens. “It was nice to meet you, too, Cass, have fun at the party.” He makes eye contact with Jason and offers a smile. “I will see you around?” he didn’t mean to make it sound like a question, but it’s too late now.

The corners of Jason’s mouth turn up, just slightly, and he answers, “Yeah, I guess you will.”

Kyle doesn’t leave immediately, though; he listens to Jason and Cass bicker on the way out of the building (“What do you mean you didn’t drive a car here? I told you my other motorcycle is in repair right now, do you really want us to drive to the Manor on my _Red Hood_ bike with _Alfred’s cake_ , no less?” to which she nods and Jason swears, and says, “I’m calling Steph.”) and he laughs silently.

For a first time in a long time, Kyle is actually looking forward to coming back to Earth.


	2. part ii.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is late, but my procrastinating ass, uni sucking the life out of me and decision to re-write like, at least half of this were a bad combination

It’s early in the night and Kyle’s wandering through the streets of Gotham, trying to get through to Jason without success. Koriand’r told him – sounding a little too smug and amused as for Kyle’s tastes – that Jason is currently back home, but he’s not picking up and Kyle is trying not to read too much into it. Jason is most likely busy since it’s patrol time – it was probably stupid of Kyle to jump on the first occasion he had and come, but it’s been over a month and he might have gotten a little impatient. Now it leaves him walking around aimlessly. He’s starting to think that maybe he should go to Jason’s apartment – wouldn’t that be weird, though? – when a phone in a telephone booth he passes starts ringing.

Kyle stops, stares at it for a moment – he had no idea they still work, to be honest – and picks it up because well, it’s pretty obvious this call is for him.

“It’s kind of hard to hack someone’s comm when they don’t carry comms,” a mechanical voice says, sounding amused. “You Lanterns are such problems sometimes.”

“You could’ve hacked my phone,” Kyle says dumbly, the first thing that comes to his mind. The voice on the other end laughs.

“Careful, I may just do that next time,” Oracle states. “So, why do I find you on the streets of Gotham out of costume? Looking for someone?” And before Kyle can answer, she continues, “Namely, someone tall, with a mean right hook and taste for classic literature?”

Kyle gapes for a moment. “How did you know? Has Ca–Black Bat said anything?”

“I can put two and two together, especially considering you’ve been trying to call Jason’s personal phone for over half an hour,” Oracle answers. “But _should_ I be interested in what Black Bat could say?”

“I…” He sometimes really, really regrets opening his mouth.

Oracle chuckles. “Relax, Kyle, I’m just messing with you,” she says and he isn’t sure if the use of his name is meant to put him on ease or on the contrary. “Hood is with Red Robin on a case in Bowery right now, they should be wrapping it up in…” she pauses for a moment, Kyle hears tapping of the keys, “…twenty minutes tops, if nothing goes more wrong than it already has.”

“Thank you,” he replies because it does save him the trouble. But he has a feeling this conversation isn’t quite over yet.

Oracle wastes no time and gets right to the business. “Listen, as much as I may have eyes and ears everywhere, I actually reluctantly get into things that are not my business. Whatever you and Jason have going on, it’s between the two of you. I just hope you know what you’re doing. I’d hate to see him get hurt.”

This is probably not the best moment to say that Kyle is more than a little clueless about where he and Jason stand right now. A lot could have changed in the span of a few weeks. Maybe it will turn out that he needn’t has come back here… but he hopes it won’t be the case.

“That’s not what I want to happen, either, “ he says sincerely. Then, he adds, “You’re protective. In a kinda scary way, but still.”

“I’m the oldest one around here,” Oracle reminds him. “Not counting the big man himself and Agent A, of course. Looking out for everyone, even if they wouldn’t necessarily appreciate it, is kind of a part of what I do.”

“You’re good at this,” he reassures.

“Flattery will get you anywhere,” she teases. “And one more thing: please try to keep a lower profile this time around. Vicki Vale had a field day coming up with theories about why would a White Lantern stick around Gotham.”

Kyle hangs up, tips of his ears bright red.

…

He indeed finds Red Hood and Red Robin in Bowery, apparently in the middle of an argument.

“What part of ‘keep property damage to minimum’ you didn’t understand, Hood?”

“I keep telling you, Little Red, crashing that car was _necessary_ to stop those low-lifes.”

“Yes, you keep repeating that, but now I’m talking about other _five_ cars that ended up destroyed, too. Along with the storefront of that pawn shop.”

“But they used to sell drugs to kids there, so they had it coming, really.”

“If you wanted to shut them down, I’m sure you there were plenty of other ways in which you could have handled it.”

“Bodily harm included?”

“Interrupting something?” Kyle asks from where he has perched on a railing of a balcony of the nearest building.

Both of them whip their heads to look up at him; in moments like this one, Kyle really hates that stupid helmet because he wants to see the expression on Jason’s face.

“Kyle– I mean, Lantern,” Tim corrects himself, as if they aren’t the only ones in the alley. Not counting tied up criminals in various states of unconsciousness, of course. “What are you doing here?” His face falls as he speaks. “Please don’t tell me there’s a cosmic threat approaching Gotham. I didn’t drink enough coffee for this kind of an alert.”

Kyle laughs at Tim’s grim, resigned tone. “No, nothing like that. Actually, I’m…”

“Actually, Kyle is here to save me from you and your complaining ass,” Jason tells Tim as he fires a grappling hook and stands on the outer edge of the same balcony as Kyle. To him, Jason whispers, “Good timing, I was afraid I’d actually have to stay and deal with clean-up.”

“Well, I don’t think –” Kyle starts and blinks. Suddenly, Jason isn’t standing, leaning on the railing, he’s _hanging_ off it.

“ _What the hell, Tim_!” he shouts.

Tim, pulling on the line around Jason’s ankle, says, “If you think you can just get out and leave me alone to deal with this mess, you have another thing coming.”

“No one actually died or got hurt!” Jason yells back. “Gravely, at least. The parties responsible are just waiting for the cops to take them in.”

“ _Property damage_ ,” Tim repeats grimly, with emphasis.

“It’s goddamn Bowery, _no one cares_!” Jason calls. Under his breath, he mutters, “That little shit.”

“Do you want some help…?” Kyle asks, amused, peering down at Jason.

“No, I’ve got an ace up my sleeve,” Jason tells him. Louder, he says, “Okay, how about this: if you handle this without me, I’ll take take the brat out of your hair the next time Dickie decides you two need some uncalled for bonding time or whatever.”

This gets Tim to pause in his relentless pulling. “Okay,” he finally decides. “But you better not bail out, I’ll call this favor in even if you’re in space,” he warns, pulling the line away and freeing Jason’s ankle.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jason agrees and immediately jumps back on the balcony to start climbing up the fire escape. “Thanks, Red, I knew there was a reason why I didn’t kill you back in time.”

“It certainly wasn’t for the lack of trying,” Red Robin says dryly. He tilts his head slightly and Kyle thinks he’s squinting at them. “But really, what are you two up to?”

“You don’t need to know everything,” Jason calls instead of goodbye as Kyle mouths “sorry” and flies up to the rooftop.

“Let’s get further away from here,” Jason tells him and goes running to jump on the next roof. Kyle gets him, but it doesn’t change the fact he feels a pang of irritation as he follows him. By the time Jason decides to stop and Kyle catches up with him, landing softly on the rooftop, the helmet is already discarded and he can finally stare at Jason’s face.

“Hey,” Kyle says and isn’t he eloquent.

Jason, however, smiles at him. “Hey yourself,” he says back and steps closer. “I thought I wouldn’t actually get to see you this soon.”

“Yeah, well, I got some free time and thought I’d drop by,” he states casually, like he didn’t have an internal freak out just an hour ago. “Is this a bad time?”

“Couldn’t be better,” Jason answers and leans in to kiss him. Feeling relieved, Kyle puts his hand at the back of Jason’s neck and presses in closer. It’s a good kiss, maybe their best one, if only for the fact it comes after a long time and tells Kyle that Jason is apparently still interested in this thing they had, and should probably talk about.

But there’s time and place for everything, and middle of the night on a roof is probably not that. Oracle would most likely agree. (Kyle has half-mind to feel self-conscious about cameras all over the city; better late than never.)

Pulling away, he grins. “Missed me, huh?”

Jason rolls his eyes. “Like a goddamn crowbar.” Kyle sighs as Jason nudges him in the side. “Wanna call it a night and go to my place?”

“Very. I think I could use a shower.”

“Get in line, pretty boy.”

On their way, they buy Chinese take outs from Jason’s favorite place and spend two hours watching some silly movie on Jason’s second-hand couch and laughing – it’s something Kyle wouldn’t have expected, but it’s nice. And if their makeout session after that ends up in the bedroom, he definitely isn’t going to complain.

…

“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Kyle says in the morning, his arms wrapped around Jason as they idly lay in the bed, dimmed Gotham sunlight streaming into the room. “Would it be wrong to say we’re dating?”

As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he winces; Kyle knows his lack of filler is atrocious, but he’s been getting hang of it lately. The question is out there now, though, and he waits for Jason’s reaction. His body went tense and, from where his hand is resting on a scar across Jason’s chest, Kyle can tell his heartbeat picked up. (Earlier he was tracing his hands over Jason’s torso, drawing patterns without even realizing until Jason asked, in a choked voice, if he wanted to get out of the bed and paint or something. That’s the story of Kyle found Jason is ticklish.)

“Dating, huh?” Jason finally mutters, his voice a little tight, but then he exhales slowly and squeezes Kyle’s hand. “I guess I wouldn’t mind dating you all that much.”

Kyle hooks his chin over Jason’s shoulder and grins, wide and stupid and happy, unperturbed even as Jason tells him to close his mouth because he’s drooling all over his arm.

…

Leaving this time around is harder than before, but it also weighs less on Kyle’s mind, as the certainty settles in. (He has a _boyfriend_ , would you believe it.) He feels… lighter, in a way, and it must show because even Carol comments on it.

“It seems like some time on Earth indeed is good for you,” she tells him when they arrive on a sixth planet in the last two days, looking for a fugitive on a special request from the Guardians. Kyle should have expected it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounds.

“Yeah?” he asks, distracted as his ring scans the crowd down below.

“You’re more relaxed, I’d say.”

“Well, that’s what time off from work is supposed to do,” he answers, a little unsure as to where Carol is going with this.

She smiles at him. “Sure. But really, Kyle, do you think you can hide the fact you’re seeing someone from a _Star Sapphire_?”

Kyle groans. “Carol, we have work to do.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. Are they a superhero? Do I know them?”

“No, I mean, we have work _right now_ , I found our guy – oh, he realized,” Kyle comments dryly and starts descending. Carol keeps up with him easily.

“Alright, we’ll talk about your _mystery person_ the other time,” she says, readying her ring.

“That sounded creepy, can you not?” Kyle asks and only receives a laugh in response as she dives into the crowd. “Okay, thanks, great talk.”

…

“When Roy said you guys are in Brazil, I expected something less… mundane than this. Weren’t you here on a job?”

Jason, sitting on a bench next to Kory, rolls his eyes as a new song starts playing in the background. “Not my fault you’re late. We already wrapped it up.”

The inside of the bar seems as dingy as it looked outside, but at least the seats are nice, Kyle decides. He’s surprised, but nevertheless pleased at a hard kiss Jason greets him with. Roy whistles loudly from the other side of the table and only laughs when Jason flips him off.

“That was a little intense,” Kyle says when they part. “This time wasn’t even the longest we went without seeing each other.”

“Yes, but I’m still disappointed you had to leave unexpectedly,” Jason answers, idly running his thumb over Kyle’s knuckles. “You didn’t get try my casserole.”

“A loss I mourn, but the universe called,” Kyle replies. “I’m sure it was great.”

“Yeah, well, ask Cass or Tim because they were the ones who came over and ate it by themselves.”

Kyle chuckles, feeling only a little bad for tuning out the conversation between the Outlaws as he leans into Jason’s side to have an arm wrapped around him from the back, content on staying this way for foreseeable future. He’s willing to admit he’s pretty tired after the recent space endeavors and there’s comforting familiarity to be found in Jason’s body heat and smell after all the times he’s accidentally fell asleep on him. Kyle would even go as far as to close his eyes and take a nap, if it wasn’t for the fact they’re in a bar and Jason doesn’t actually seem relaxed at all.

Tilting his head to look up at him, Kyle asks, just loud enough to be heard over the noise, “Are you okay?”

Jason’s face confronts in a weird way; at this angle and lightning, it’s quite easy to see the bags under his eyes. “I should be asking you that. Haven’t you just come back from saving the universe or something?”

“Same old, same old,” Kyle jokes and sighs. “I’m just tired, like, exhausted kind of tired,” he admits quietly. “Think we could wrap it up earlier?”

“Sure,” Jason agrees, already standing up. “We left the ship quite far from here, though. Hotel okay?”

“Honestly, I only care about there being a bed,” he answers. Normally, that kind of reply would get a laugh or at least a twitch of lips out of Jason, but his face remains closed off and now Kyle is starting to get worried. They say goodbye to Roy and Kory and go outside; Kyle stretches and inhales deeply, walking beside Jason into a busy street.

“What happened?” Kyle asks after Jason finishes his second cigarette in the span of ten minutes and seems to have more or less unintentionally scared off other people from walking too close to them.

“I told you, nothing–” Jason starts before snapping his mouth shut. And it’s only a testament to how far they came that, after a moment, he speaks up again, quietly, “I almost killed the guy responsible for the operation we took down today. He was one clever scumbag, mixed up in human trafficking even when he still lived in the States, but he didn’t cover his tracks as precisely as he thought.” Jason shakes his head. “On some level, I realized we had enough evidence to link to him and make sure he doesn’t get out, but what I did after I nailed the fucker was to pull the trigger. Only reason he’s still alive is because I ran out of ammo.” He chuckles darkly. “And I honestly think I regret not having that one bullet more than that my first instinct was to kill him.” Another pause as Jason kicks a stray stone on the ground, and then, “Old habits die hard, they say.”

“Jason,” Kyle says, stopping almost in the middle of the street. They talked about this once before, but tonight (Kyle berates himself for the comparison, even if it’s fitting) Jason is like a bomb seconds away from exploding. Kyle is starting to wonder if there’s something else that set him up off maybe he’s not the only one who had a couple of hard weeks. “Listen, Jason, you know that –” he starts, reaching out to touch Jason’s arm, but he shies away stiffly. Jason glances at him and shakes his head.

“No, I don’t – the look on your face, you know? I’d much prefer it you were repulsed, or angry. Disappointed even, I deal with that plenty. Pitying or understanding are usually fake and piss me off. But you look at me like… you believe I could do better. And that fucks me up, Kyle.”

“It’s because I know you can, Jason. You have been, even before I came into the picture,” Kyle answers, letting his arm drop to the side. Someone’s bag knocks against his elbow, but he barely registers that. “I know you.”

Jason’s shoulder shake and he says, “Ah, hell, I just. Sorry, I can’t do that right now.”

He walks away, disappearing into the crowd further down the street. Kyle doesn’t remember the last time he’s felt so lost.

…

The next evening, Kyle goes to the very same place they visited the night before and orders a beer, debating whether he wants to get drunk in a nondescript bar in the middle of Brazil or not. Jason hasn’t returned any of Kyle’s calls or texts after disappearing on him yesterday. He only knows from Roy they dropped him off in Gotham, so he should be okay, probably. It doesn’t stop Kyle from regretting how things played out, though.

The universe knows they have their arguments and confrontations – usually about something small and trivial, and even if it’s something more serious, Kyle can’t stay mad at Jason for too long. Yesterday, however, was more about Jason not letting Kyle to get through him and he really hates that. It also worries him.

He just got on Earth, but maybe he should cut his vacation short. (And Kyle hates himself for thinking that because avoidance has never worked out for him in relationships.)

Just as he finishes his first beer and starts to pick up the specifics of Brazilian Portuguese, his phone starts ringing. It’s embarrassing and a little sad how quickly he goes for it, but it’s not Jason; there’s only a green mask on the screen, no caller ID or whatsoever.

Kyle immediately feels sober as he picks up.

“Lantern,” Oracle’s distorted voice greets him. “How fast can you make it to Gotham?”

“Minutes,” he replies, already getting up. “What happened?”

“Hood assisted Batgirl in intercepting a shipment of illegal drugs and chemicals. I’m a little fuzzy on the details right now, but there was a fight and a fear toxin involved.” Kyle’s stomach sinks a little. “She asked me to call you. Will you come?”

“Five minutes tops. Tell me where exactly.”

That’s how Kyle finds himself flying over Gotham docks in the middle of the night, which is vastly different from how he was on his way to get drunk on the other continent just minutes ago. He regrets not asking Oracle for more information because his brain is so not helping with worst case scenarios right now.

He eventually spots Batgirl’s long, blonde hair in a narrow space between warehouses. Kyle lands next to them, immediately going to scan Jason’s unconscious form with his ring. He isn’t wearing the helmet, only domino, and other than superficial cuts and bruises, he doesn’t seem to be physically hurt.

“What happened here?” he asks, noticing Batgirl’s fingers clinging to the inside of Jason’s wrist, right over his pulse point.

“I… “ Batgirl bites her lip, not looking at him. “I asked Jay to tag along for tonight because he seemed to be in a shitty mood after coming back from the job with the Outlaws. Figured some action at the docks would cheer him up. Of course, since neither of us are really silent and sneaky types, we went in hard and flashy, a surprise fight. It was going well and it probably _would’ve_ went well, but they brought fear gas into the picture. We weren’t sure they worked with Scarecrow, but, well, it figures, right?” She laughs, but it sounds strained. “Anyway, Jason didn’t have the helmet tonight and he didn’t get his filter mask on fast enough. Because he was too busy kicking me away from the source.” She scrubs a hand over her eyes. “As you can guess, it quickly went south after that. It took me some time,” is what she says, but Kyle hears, _too much time_ , “to knock him out hard enough to administer an antidote. It… wasn’t pretty.”

Yeah, Kyle can only imagine; he’s been a witness to Jason waking up from his nightmares several times and it always broke his heart a little. The fact that Batgirl had to deal with Jason under the influence of fear toxin on her own… He swallows and checks the vitals the ring gives him, relieved to find out that Jason is stable, the effects of the antidote starting to kick in. He supposes Batgirl was lucky it worked; he’s heard enough of Scarecrow to know the man likes to play around with his formulas. They could have not been sitting here right now.

“Did you administer it for yourself?” Kyle asks, ever vigilant.

Batgirl blinks at him. “I only really get a whiff of the gas, but yeah, of course I did. But just after contacting Oracle, so that’s why I’m still… jittery.”

Kyle thinks it’s the only reason, but he chooses not to comment on that. Instead, he finally asks, “Why did you have Oracle call me?”

She opens her mouth to reply, but then she glances down at Jason’s still – or, not-so-still form. He’s stirring into consciousness, slowly but surely. Kyle watches his eyelids twitch, mouth pulled down.

“Kyle?” he murmurs eventually, voice rough, most likely from screaming.

“I’m here,” Kyle says softly, suddenly grateful when Batgirl gives Jason’s hand one last squeeze and straightens up, speaking on the comm as she walks away to give them some semblance of privacy. “It’s okay, Jason, I’m here,” he repeats, pulling Jason’s head into his lap and gently running his fingers over his face.

Jason exhales shakily, the sound going straight to Kyle’s chest and pulling at his heartstrings. He gently removes the crumpled domino and Jason’s hazy teal eyes blink up blearily at him. Kyle smiles, albeit weakly.

“Hi,” he says.

Jason blinks at him a few more times, his eyes a little more focused as he states, “You… really are here.”

“Yeah, well. You gave me quite a scare, you know,” Kyle says. It’s an understatement. “Batgirl, too.”

“Ah.” Jason shifts a little and calls quietly, “Steph?”

Batgirl is next to them in a flash, sounding almost normal as she asks, “Yeah, Jay?”

“Did I… hurt you?”

Stephanie’s face confronts in a way that tells Kyle she wants to cry, but she composes herself quickly. “No. Sorry to break it to you, but you still haven’t kicked Team Batgirl.”

Jason snorts. “Good,” he says. “The shipment?”

“Nightwing will take care of what’s left as soon as he’s done with the hostage situation in Burnley,” she replies.

“Okay.” He cracks his eyes open for a moment longer to look at her. “‘s not your fault, Steph. Lay off.”

She bites her lip, but nods. Kyle looks her over.

“You should take the rest of the night off,” he tells her.

“That’s what Oracle said as well, so I guess I will do that.”

“Will you be alright getting home by yourself?” Kyle asks.

Batgirl waves him off. “Yeah, I’ll go as soon as N shows up.” She glances back to Jason, who Kyle thinks is asleep again. “We can bring him to the Cave, you know. Unless…”

“It’s fine, I’ll take him to his apartment,” Kyle says, not missing a beat.

She nods again. “It’s probably a better idea.” After a pause, she adds, “Thank you. For coming.”

Looking down at Jason, Kyle answers, “Yeah.”

…

When they get to his apartment – and after Kyle successfully manages to disable the security – Jason is more or less conscious. He groans when Kyle steers him into the bathroom, but starts taking off his gear to change into something casual. Kyle doesn’t make him shower because it seems Jason isn’t quite up to that and instead reminds him to wash his face. He discards his uniform as well and goes to get some water and meds.

By the time he’s done, Jason is already in the bedroom, laying on his stomach, face pressed into the pillow. He isn’t asleep, though, Kyle can tell.

“Here, drink this,” he says, putting a hand on Jason’s shoulder after sitting down next to him on the other side of the bed.

Reluctantly, Jason raises up a little and glances at the tray. “It’s just water,” he states flatly. “I swear there’s another clear liquid substance in my kitchen.”

“I’m not gonna indulge you tonight. Come on.”

Somehow, Jason summons enough effort to roll his eyes before taking the water. He chooses two of three pills Kyle brought and drinks the whole glass at once only to flop back on the mattress bonelessly.

“You should get some sleep,” Kyle says, filling the silence with the most obvious statement.

Jason mutters something vaguely affirmative into the pillow. After a moment, he turns his head to Kyle and asks, without opening his eyes, “Will you stay? I… sleep better when you’re around.”

 _Oh, Jason_ , Kyle thinks, sliding his palm from Jason’s shoulder to card fingers through his hair. “Of course,” he says and watches the tension he didn’t know Jason was still harboring bleed out of him.

They’re silent for a few minutes before Jason speaks again. “’m sorry about yesterday. Running away and leaving you .”

“Okay,” Kyle says simply; they still should talk about that, but obviously not now. So instead, Kyle says the first thing that comes to his mind, which is, “You know, I think Batgirl has us figured out after tonight.” At this point, it’s probably easier to name people who _don’t_.

Jason snorts sleepily. “‘s okay. Steph ain’t a snitch.” As if gathering his thoughts, he adds speaking slowly, “We were off to a rocky start… but she’s great. You can trust her.”

“You say that, but put yourself in my shoes,” Kyle comments, trying to lighten the mood with a joke. “I’m still not convinced Batman wouldn’t have my head if he knew we are dating.”

Jason raises his hand in an attempt to pat Kyle’s arm, somewhat succeeding. His next words are slurred, probably because both exhaustion and drugs are kicking in again.

“He wouldn’t. You make me happy.”

His hand in Jason’s hair pauses and Kyle is momentarily too stunned to reply, but Jason is already snoring lightly, deep in sleep.

Kyle, however, remains awake for a long time.

…

He must have fallen asleep at some point because the next morning, Kyle wakes up, curled up comfortably on Jason’s bed with a blanket thrown over him. Blinking awake the remains of sleep, he realizes the other side of the bed is empty – he was tired enough to sleep through Jason getting up.

“Jason?” Kyle calls, coming out of the bedroom and peeking into the bathroom, but it’s also empty and uneasiness is starting to creep in. Stepping further into the apartment, Kyle calls again and this time, he hears a noise from the kitchen. Relieved, he walks in, but stops short at the entrance.

Instead of Jason, he finds Dick Grayson eating waffles by the table and staring back at him, looking almost as surprised as Kyle feels.

“Oh,” Dick says finally, brushing some whipped cream from his mouth. “ _Now_ I know why Jay was so stubborn about me not staying here.”

“Um.” Kyle clears his throat. “Say, can I walk out of here, so we can pretend this very awkward encounter never happened?”

Dick chuckles. “Would be a waste of waffles I brought,” he says, pushing out the chair across him with his foot. “Come on, Kyle, sit down and eat something.”

Lingering, Kyle does as asked, but he isn’t feeling particularly hungry. He looks at Dick’s face and asks, “Is Jason okay?”

The man blinks owlishly at him and rushes to answer, “Oh, yeah, don’t worry. Damian and I came to check up on him earlier to make sure the toxin is out of his system completely. But he still seemed to be on edge, so I suggested they take a walk. It kind of felt like it’d be either fight or flight otherwise and I really wanted to avoid that.”

Kyle thinks he can relate to that. “So it’s better to order him out and let off some steam?” he asks dubiously.

Dick shrugs. “I call it ‘giving a way out that doesn’t end in blood or tears’, but I’m a little surprised he didn’t actually protest that much. Guess he really needed to take his mind off things for a while.”

“You think so, huh,” Kyle mutters, can’t help himself from sounding bitter. If Jason was acting like that, they probably wouldn’t had an honest talk anyway, but still.

Perhaps sensing that, Dick slides the plate with waffles to him. “Comfort food really helps. And they’re from Stephanie’s favorite place, and she’s a waffle expert, so.”

Kyle caves in and takes a bite, and then another. Apparently content, Dick leans back in his chair and fixes him with a curious look. “So, you and Jason. I guess I finally understand what Babs and Cass were alluding to a few times.” Kyle has half-mind to bite his tongue and not ask about that particular statement. Dick continues, “How long has this been going on? Since that Blackgate breakout?”

“Pretty much,” Kyle admits after a moment. He likes Dick, but he’s starting to wonder if he should feel at least a little wary, since he’s talking to Jason’s older brother.

“Huh, that’s… over six months, right?” Dick wonders. It gives Kyle a pause as well because he hasn’t realized it’s already been that long since Jason re-entered his life in a completely different light. “You realize you are his longest relationship, right?”

“I’m aware,” he says rather dryly. “I hope you’re not going to comment on my relationship history now.”

“What? No.” Dick shakes his head. “I’m not that much of a hypocrite, despite what Jason claims sometimes.” Kyle finds his expression a little hard to decipher. “It’s just… I’m surprised, but a lot of things make sense now. I’m happy for you.”

He actually sounds sincere and Kyle sighs. “Well, you may want to hold that thought,” he tells Dick. “Jason and I need to talk about some of the recent… events.”

“Ah,“ Dick says, munching on his waffle. “You know, Jason isn’t the easiest person to understand. Character-wise, sure, but also because of what he’s been through. I think… he doesn’t believe that good things that happen to him are going to last, that’s why he tends to sabotage himself. Hurt or leave those close to you before they can do that. It used to give us a lot of grief when we first started reconciling.” Dick smiles bitterly. “Jason has come a long way since then, but it’s not a kind of mentality he’ll ever completely let go of, I think. Some things run deeper than his death, even before he came to live at the Manor.”

Kyle knows all that, on some level, even though Jason still rarely opens up about many parts of his past. “So what do you suggest?”

“I don’t think it’s my place to suggest anything,” Dick answers, raising an eyebrow at him. “What do _you_ want to do, Kyle?”

It’s a good question. One Kyle doesn’t know how to answer, but he starts talking anyway.

“He makes me mad, when he’s being unnecessarily stubborn or mean. And he’s so extra sometimes.” Dick snorts quietly in agreement. Kyle nibbles at his waffle before continuing, “He makes me mad when he downplays how injured he really is or that he’s not okay, and when he jokes about his death and resurrection, even though I know that’s how he’s coping. He makes me feel worried and afraid sometimes because he’s already died once, and I know he has you guys, and Roy and Kory, but…” He swallows, thinks briefly about Alex. “And I don’t really know how it’s supposed to work in a long shot, with him here and me up in space… But I want to try out his cooking, listen to him talk about the books he’s reading, laugh at him for accidentally drinking my paint water again. I want him to know that he’s good enough and that I’m going to stay with him as long as he lets me.” Kyle exhales deeply. “Wow, that last sentence was corny,” he says, but doesn’t take it back.

He isn’t looking at Dick, but he can hear a gentle smile in his voice as he says, “Well, there you have your answer.”

“I suppose I do,” Kyle mutters. Just then he glances at the man across him. “You’re almost annoyingly good at this, making people open up and talk to you.”

This gets a laugh out of Dick. “So I heard multiple times, both from heroes and criminals alike. It’s a useful skill.”

A moment later, there’s a sound of the front door opening, followed by the the voices.

“As far as antiquarian bookshops stand, this one was unexpectedly decent.”

“Drop fancy words, brat, it’s just a second-hand bookshop. And don’t act so shocked that you can find something interesting in worse parts of Gotham, too.”

Dick stands up and squeezes Kyle’s shoulder in an encouraging way. Damian shows up in the doorway, not even phased by Kyle’s presence, and makes an annoyed _tt_ sound when Dick ruffles his hair. Jason hangs back, only making a brief eye contact with Kyle before he turns his gaze to approaching Dick, looking at him with a mix of suspicion and uncertainty.

Kyle doesn’t know what they say to each other because Damian comes to stand in front of him, his back straight and chin held out. He looks very serious as for an early teen, although the fact he’s shoved his hands into the pockets of a hoodie is _such_ a sulky teen thing to do.

“Yes?” Kyle prompts him after the staring becomes uncomfortable.

“Todd is a difficult and stubborn individual, but know that if you break his heart, I have the means to make you disappear, Lantern rings or not,” Damian tells him without preamble. After a pause for emphasis, he adds, “Also, I’d like to see some of your artworks, particularly sketches. We can compare tools.”

“Okay,” Kyle says because he doesn’t know how else he could reply to that.

Damian nods at him, apparently satisfied, and walks out of the kitchen. He and Dick say their goodbyes after that, leaving Kyle with Jason – Jason, who looks both a little better and a little worse for wear than yesterday, but in different ways. For one, as he comes to sit down next to Kyle by the table, he seems nervous, but not tense.

Kyle opens his mouth to speak, but Jason holds up a hand.

“Wait, let me.” His voice still sounds rough, but less so than the night before. “I’m sorry for recent days. I haven’t been at my best, but you’re still here, so I guess it means something, I guess.” He licks his lips. “I’m not really good at these things, so I’ll just…” From his jacket, Jason pulls out a rather thin book that definitely has seen better days. He flips a few pages and clears his throat before he starts,

“ _Mi lucha es dura y vuelvo_  
_con los ojos cansados_  
_a veces de haber visto_  
_la tierra que no cambia,_  
_pero al entrar tu risa_  
_sube al cielo buscándome_  
_y abre para mí todas_  
_las puertas de la vida_.”

Jason lowers the book of poetry, looking at Kyle as he says, “I still don’t understand why would someone like you want to deal with me and a mountain of my issues, but… you make me forget all of that, that I’m not someone good, someone normal. It scares me sometimes and my instinct tells me that I should push you away, that this is not going to last either way. And yet, I also trust you. To have my back in a fight, sure, but also with… this.”

For all Jason may claim he’s not good at this, it’s Kyle who feels clumsy when it comes to pretty words. That leaves him to sincere words. “You make me happy, too,” he says, cupping Jason’s face into his hands. “And I think we both deserve that much.”

“I…” Jason hesitates and huffs a laugh. “You know, I think we should try that. It doesn’t sound too bad.”

 _No, it doesn’t_ , Kyle agrees when he sweeps his thumbs over faint freckles spread across Jason’s cheeks, making him crinkle his eyes in a funny way. _It doesn’t sound bad at all_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is Done. i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter more than i editing it. it's almost 5 am, why am i like this
> 
> the poem jason reads to kyle is an excerpt from pablo neruda's [your laughter](https://msu.edu/~sullivan/NerudaPoemLaugh.html) which felt like a good fit for this fic
> 
> also psa: jason todd likes to be the little spoon. you heard it here folks
> 
> kudos & comments are greatly appreciated. talk to me about jaykyle and d(umb)c(omics) on [twitter](http://twitter.com/almaskarma) or [tumblr](http://kattekane.tumblr.com)


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